WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice remains committed to sharing information it collects about foreign governments’ efforts to influence this year’s elections with social media companies. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at a lawyers’ conference on Friday.
Speaking at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting, Monaco, the department’s No. abuse on their platforms by adversaries conducting foreign malign influence operations, including targeting our elections.”
The comments were part of a wider speech on election security, in which Monaco also warned that Russia remained the main foreign threat to the elections, with Moscow targeting specific voting demographics and the use of encrypted direct messaging apps to contact Americans and sound the alarm about a growing threat of violence against public officials – including election workers.
The Department of Justice in the last two years processed almost 700 threat casesmore than half of which involved public servants.
“These threats are unacceptable. No one – no one – should have to endure threats of violence simply for doing their job,” Monaco said. “For the right to vote to be real for all Americans, election workers – who are often, after all, volunteers – must be able to do their work free from improper influence, physical threats or any other conduct designed to intimidate. ”
The speech was delivered at the ABA Democracy Summit in Chicago, with Monaco reminding the audience of lawyers their obligation to defend the rule of law and promote faith in electoral integrity.
“Our republic depends on the functioning of a free and fair electoral process – with results that are respected and with elections free from violence and free from foreign interference,” said Monaco.
Monaco’s comments come weeks after a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the federal government to interact with social media companies, judges ruling against Republican-led states which alleged that federal authorities relied on the platforms to unconstitutionally suppress conservative viewpoints. The court said the states and other parties did not have the legal right, or standing, to sue.
The department this week also released for the first time a series of procedures the FBI uses to decide when to share information with social media companies about threats to their platforms. This measure was encouraged in a recent report by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
“As we carry out this work, we will continue to keep the public updated on not only why we are doing this, but also how,” Monaco said.
Under the procedures, the FBI may contact companies when it identifies activity on a platform conducted by, or on behalf of, a foreign government to support an influence operation or if there are specific, credible facts demonstrating that the activity can be assigned. to a foreign government.
The procedures state that the FBI must make clear that it is not asking the social media company to take any action and that the company is under no obligation to do so.
